Teen Guide to Global Action - review

Guest Author - Lorel Shea

The Teen Guide to Global Action – How to Connect with Others (Near and Far) to Create Social Change is a very useful guidebook for teens and for younger kids who are interested in community service. The author, Barbara Lewis, is a former classroom teacher who has written several other winning books for young people concerned with social issues and self development. Lewis challenges kids to consciously think about themselves and the world around them.

This guide is easy to use and organized in a very accessible manner. Lewis defines seven key issues for today's teens to address. These are fairly broad in scope. For instance, one person might choose to work in the are of Human Rights, while another might tackle a problem in Education or Hunger and Homelessness. The broad format allows kids to creatively find ways to implement change or raise awareness that match their own strengths and interests. Actions are broken down into four basic steps and the student is walked through each phase. These begin with “Step 1: Find Your Cause” and end with “Step 4: Take Action”. Each step includes details of how to complete tasks and move ahead. There are over 100 pages in this guide and many websites and references for service organizations and causes are included.

Readers are invited to submit their own volunteer success stories for future editions of this guide. Inspiring vignettes of successful student advocates and activists are scattered throughout the book.